Our freezer is pretty stocked from all the pheasant hunting we did with our Vizslas at the end of last year. We took a trip on Jenny’s 30th and then another one at Thanksgiving. And as mentioned, our freezer is home to a bunch of dead pheasants! We wanted to start trying out some new recipes and this is our second attempt. (If you missed our first recipe for Pheasant Gumbo, you can find it here.) In honor of Cinco de Mayo — we thought a Mexican twist would be fun. Check it out below:
You’ll need–
2-3 pheasants – filleted & frozen (and make sure you get all that silver skin out too)
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained (we used okra because Jenny is allergic)
1 can of Rotel, (lime & cilantro one if you can find it)
1 jar of Tomatillo sauce
1 package of reduced fat cream cheese (8 oz)
Crock Pot
FROZEN PHEASANT SIDE BAR: Before we froze our pheasants, we put in a tequila lime marinade, however, if you just have them plain, there will still be plenty of flavor. Note — pheasants should be rinsed, dried and then filleted before freezing. If you want to do the marinade throw it in the freezer bag with the fresh pheasant, let it sit for 30 minutes and then stick the bag in the freezer.
Back to the prep. *So* easy. Put the frozen birds in your crock pot. Top with the corn, beans (or okra in our case), Rotel, cream cheese, and then cover everything with the tomatillo sauce. Set your crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. It seriously takes less than 5 minutes to prep this meal! Awesome, right? Because we did this over the weekend, we stirred it every few hours too. But if you couldn’t, no big deal.
Once it finished cooking, we used a fork to shred up the pheasant. And done!
Serving ideas:
–Make tacos, burritos, or nachos
–Throw on top of some rice
–Use it as enchilada mix
–Top a salad with it for some Mexican flare.
But most importantly, enjoy!!
The best part is knowing that we harvested these birds with our Vizslas. Pheasant isn’t necessarily as tasty as chicken, but this recipe makes it pretty delicious and versatile. The hardest part is keeping it from drying out and not tasting too gamey — this recipe achieves both!